News & Commentary

MarketWatch Top Ten stories May 3 - 7

GregMorcroft

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - U.S. stocks took investors on a wild ride this week. In fact, this editor hasn't seen anything quite like it since the Monday after Lehman failed. And he had not seen anything like that, ever.

Those 7 or 8 minutes on Thursday -- when the market fell 500 or so points for no reason that had anything to do with valuation, ratios, technical levels or global economic worries -- said some worrying things about the current state of our market.

Some people made money, some lost money, but that isn't really the point. If the system is set up to allow that kind of volatility -- triggered by mindless computerized trading rather than anything fundamentally important to corporations -- there is a problem.

Remember, this is the place retirement savers are supposed to be putting hard-earned money in the hopes that one day they will have accumulated enough to stop working for a few years before disappearing into the sunset, so to speak. After Thursday, who could blame them if they decided to stop?

The nature of the problem - or whether there even is one -- will no doubt be debated for some time. But at least one thing is clear after this week: investing in stocks in this country is scarier than it used to be.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average
fell 139.89 points or 1.3% on Friday to close at 10,380.43. For the week the index fell 5.7%. The Nasdaq Composite Index
dropped 54 points or 2.3% on the day to close at 2,265.64 and notched an 8% decline for the week. The benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 Index
fell 17.27 points or 1.5% on Friday to close at 1,110.88. For the week the index was off 6.4%.

Please click in to MarketWatch over the weekend for all the news you need. We'll be monitoring the German regional election as well as other news in Europe and around the world. Our weekend investor story will give you a look at all the stocks in the auto industry that you would need to build a complete car, er, portfolio.

Also please be sure to check out MarketWatch's Week Ahead videos for the U.S., Europe and Asia.

Trading glitches driving the debate for reform

As regulators sought answers and the main exchanges were on the defensive as to what happened during Thursday's swoon on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, some veteran market observers questioned whether our modern financial frameworks serve any purpose beyond making money for those involved. Read about reaction to the market turmoil Thursday on MarketWatch.

U.S. nonfarm payrolls add 290,000 workers in April

The U.S. added 290,000 jobs in April, the biggest increase since March 2006, with broad gains throughout the economy, key government data showed Friday. Hiring has risen in the first four months of the year, reversing nearly two straight years of job losses after the recession that began in December 2007. About 1.66 million jobs have been created since January, the best four-month performance in 10 years, according to Labor's survey of U.S. households. See MarketWatch coverage of strong jobs data.

Negotiations begin to secure 10 Downing Street

The election is over but the battle to rule Britain has just begun. Conservative leader David Cameron, whose party bested the incumbent Labour party but failed to win an outright majority in the House of Commons, said Friday he would seek the support of the smaller Liberal Democrats in an attempt to form a government. Read coverage of U.K. election on MarkwtWatch.

Malignant market forces set sights on Europe

History is written by the winners. It's also written by the survivors. In that context, it was sad to see former Bear Stearns chiefs James "Jimmy" Cayne and Alan Schwarz on Capitol Hill Wednesday still screaming into the wind two years later that their investment bank was taken out by "unjustified and irrational" market forces. Sad because nobody was listening; sadder because they were right; saddest because it is happening again. European politicians and central bankers stand in Cayne and Schwarz's shoes this week. Read David Callaway commentary of the European debt crisis.

Apple reportedly drawing anti-trust scrutiny

Apple Inc.
DJIA, +0.08%
is reportedly drawing scrutiny from U.S. regulators after the company took steps to tighten its control over independent software developers who make applications for the iPhone. The Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission, which enforce antitrust laws, are both examining Apple and could launch an investigation, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. Read about Apple and reported antitrust scrutiny on MarketWatch.

Gulf Coast expands oil spill emergency defenses

Emergency crews along the Gulf of Mexico bolstered shoreline defenses this week to fend off a fast-spreading oil slick that the U.S. Coast Guard warned will wash into Louisiana delta marshes by the weekend and could soon threaten the beaches of western Florida. Meanwhile, brown crude, gushing now for two weeks from an uncapped BP PLC
BP
well, stretches across 120 miles of ocean south of Louisiana in what is now the worst offshore oil-well blowout since the 1969 Santa Barbara Channel spill. Efforts were continuing to cap the well. Read about preparations to combat the spill's landfall on MarketWatch.

German parliament approves aid for Greece in key votes

Germany's parliament approved legislation Friday to contribute 22.4 billion euros to an international aid package aimed at staving off bankruptcy in debt-laden Greece. Under the legislation, Germany will provide 22.4 billion euros to Greece over three years as part of a 110 billion-euro rescue plan put together by the International Monetary Fund and euro-zone nations. In the first year, the German contribution will be up to 8.4 billion euros. In Athens, the Greek parliament approved on Thursday a program of austerity measures required by euro-zone nations and the IMF in exchange for the bailout. The measures include cutting public-sector wages and pensions, as well as raising taxes. Read latest on Greek tragedy from MarketWatch.

Gold prices resume march up, at five-month highs

Gold was back at testing a record high on Friday, as it changed direction higher and pushed past the $1,200-an-ounce mark in choppy trade. "Fear is the thing driving gold," said Darin Newsom, senior analyst at Telvent DTN in Omaha. People realize that Europe could bring the recovery to its knees, he added. "Everything is linked, we cannot say the ocean protects us." Read about gold's new assault on record at MarketWatch.

Senate votes to drop $50 billion bank fund from reform

A proposed $50 billion fund that would have been used to dismantle a large failing bank so it doesn't cause collateral damage to the markets was dropped from sweeping bank reform legislation on Wednesday when lawmakers voted on a series of changes to 'too-big-to-fail' sections of the bill. Read about latest on financial reform moves in Washington.

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